"Tuna on White - Hold the Mercury"On April 22, 2004, the 34th anniversary
of Earth Day, the League of Conservation Voters delivered a bag of tuna
sandwiches to the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia
to highlight the Bush Administration's proposed mercury rule.

Letter Accompanying the Sandwich Delivery:

April 22, 2004

Ken Mehlman
Bush-Cheney '04 Inc.
2107 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201

Dear Ken:

On the 34th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the League of Conservation
Voters (LCV) would like to treat you to the enclosed tuna fish sandwiches.

We want to reassure you that even though the Bush Administration continues
to pursue policies that allow extensive toxic mercury pollution, which
has been scientifically linked to tuna - these tuna sandwiches are safe
to eat because we told the deli to 'hold the mercury.'

Now, we know that the Food and Drug Administration has warned pregnant
women and children to limit the amount of tuna they eat so we felt obligated
to put warning labels on each sandwich. But using Bush Administration
spin and distorted science, we figured if a deli can 'hold the mayo,' maybe
they could 'hold the mercury.'

We all know that the reason the Bush Administration tossed out a Clinton
Administration plan to drastically reduce mercury pollution is because
of the influence of Bush Pioneer and Ranger campaign donors who are lobbyists
and executives in the utility industry. In fact, the Bush EPA's
proposed mercury rule was written by a revolving door utility industry
lobbyist - sections of it verbatim from industry memos.

Unfortunately for America's families, over 35 million people - including
3.4 million children - live within 10 miles of a mercury emitting power
plant owned by the largest industry polluters. It's a travesty that
these polluters got a special, secret Energy Task Force chaired by Vice-President
Cheney to rewrite our clean air laws - but all America got was more pollution,
toxic fish and food warnings for our children.

Last week, EPA director Mike Leavitt flippantly dismissed the mercury
issue and 'mothers who feed their children sandwiches with tuna fish.'
Well, LCV wants to wish the Bush-Cheney campaign a nice lunch of tuna fish
sandwiches because we and our partners in the Environmental Victory Project
are going to spend the next six months doing everything we can to defeat
George Bush, elect John Kerry and fight to make sure that every mother
in America can safely feed her children.